I often joke about the ‘sea of associations’ for our industry or the ‘alphabet soup’ of water and wastewater associations. There are literally hundreds of associations dedicated to each aspect of our industry. CWWA itself tries to focus on the municipal utility sector serving municipal members and the private sector and academia that support that municipal sector – others might focus on watersheds or groundwater, just research or just equipment. There is a reason for each association to have its own focus on its own unique elements, but there are many topics we share and many times we might be stronger together. I have been noticing more and more positive signs of such cooperation.

This Workshop will feature Canadian and International experts on wastewater management and collection systems. It will explore the challenges of managing "flushable" products in the collection system - the consequences of flushing products not designed to pass through the collection and treatment systems, the needs to work with industry to develop better flushable products and strategies to influence consumer behaviour.

The 2015 National Water and Wastewater Conference in Whistler, B.C. will feature a new Canadian National Award for best short presentation of national interest. The inaugural theme will be "Effective Municipal Climate Change Adaptations".

The Canadian Water and Wastewater Association’s Climate Change Committee hosted a National Climate Change Technical Workshop in conjunction with the National Drinking Water conference on October 28th. The workshop, titled "Working Together to Adapt to Climate Change," featured presenters from government agencies, from the private sector, and from academia.

The Committee has produced a detailed report outlining the outcomes and next steps for the Committee, which is available from the CWWA website.

CWWA’s Climate Change Committee has formed a sub-committee focussed on engagement of our members. To further its goals, this sub-committee created a national survey questionnaire to obtain current information on the needs and concerns of the Canadian Water and Wastewater sector.

The CWWA was pleased to welcome 20 delegates visiting Canada from the Water Resources Department of Tibet Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China. The group was led by Mr. Dawazhaxi, Director-General and Engineer , responsible for all of Tibet.

In early February, CWWA was pleased to welcome three delegates from the Japan Water Research Centre. The delegation was led by their Executive Director Mr. Shigeru Ando. Researchers from the Centre visit a different country each year to learn all that they can. This group also met with the City of Ottawa staff, as well as provincial and utility leaders in southern Ontario and the Vancouver area.

The lines between wastewater and drinking water have been fading. As leaders in the international water research community, the Water Research Foundation (WRF) and Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) have been taking a proactive and progressive look at the future of water research in order to benefit their subscribers and strengthen research partnerships.

Environment Canada and Health Canada announced, January 28, 2015, that they intend to conduct a review of Significant New Activity (SNAc) orders and notices currently in place under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA 1999).

Water CanadaThe future is notoriously difficult to predict. But if the past is anything to go by, the coming decades could bring a lot of change. Since the early 1980s, worries over chlorine by-products have been replaced by Giardia and Cryptosporidium concerns. Ultraviolet disinfection and membrane filtration have also emerged on the scene. Meanwhile, tragedies like Walkerton focused attention on source control and operator training.

Water CanadaThe Ontario Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (OCSI) released a new report on January 13 resulting from research and consultation on the Wastewater Infrastructure Needs Assessment (WINA) project

Only 20 per cent of global wastewater is currently being treated, leaving low-income countries hardest hit by contaminated water supplies and disease, according to a UN report which encourages governments to see treated wastewater as a valuable resource, and a priority for the post-2015 development agenda.

Mondaq.comThe Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) is proposing to tighten the permissible levels of some contaminants in piped drinking water, and to adopt standards for other as yet unregulated chemicals. MOECC is holding a Regulatory Consultation until February 16, 2005. The changes will amend Ontario Regulation 169/03—Drinking Water Standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act. These standards don't apply to bottled water – another reason to drink tap water instead.

Water CanadaMunicipalities throughout North America have substantial investments in their wastewater treatment systems, and of course as populations grow, utilities must consider investing in expansion. Recently, a sometimes overlooked protocol of optimization, the Composite Correction Program (CCP), has gained resurgence as a technique to ensure existing infrastructure is utilized to the best of its capacity.

www.health.gov.bc.caThe Ministry of Health – with the support of the regional health authorities – has prepared three draft guidance documents clarifying what is expected of water suppliers to ensure they deliver safe, high-quality drinking water in the province. The documents were prepared with technical input from industry, municipalities, provincial ministries and health authority staff.